Good morning!
We all drink a lot of coffee. It helps us get through the workday, and is a handy excuse for a break in the office. But is all the coffee you drink having an adverse effect on your health?
They very simple answer is no.
So, by all means get back to your Monday morning coffee and keep enjoying the black gold with gusto. We are done here. If you want to find out more about the science, though, keep reading.
Is Coffee Bad For You?
For years the drink you and I love so much was put down and criminalised by health experts. We were giving up coffee in our droves in the name of health and vitality. Experts in the 1970s and 1980s demonized coffee as a dangerous and addictive stimulant linked to cancer and heart disease. Coffee was still ‘Satan’s drink’, even though Pope Clement VII has baptised it centuries before:
“Why, this Satan’s drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall cheat Satan by baptizing it”
Pope Clement VII
To this day, there are still those who put coffee on the wrong side of the health debate, and condemn it to the naughty class along with alcohol, smoking and unhealthy foods. Recent research, though, has given a new perspective on the health effects of coffee, and we are much closer to a definitive answer not only to the question “Is coffee bad for you?” but “could it be good for you?”
Dr. Rob van Dam, a disease and nutrition expert at Harvard School of Public Health, disputes any suggestion that coffee increases your risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease or other causes. In fact, coffee has been proven to be good for you:
“Coffee has been linked to lower rates of type-2 diabetes, a reduced risk for some cancers, and protection against Parkinson’s disease.”
“black coffee is a healthy, non-caloric beverage choice.”
The combined data of 36 studies into the link between coffee and cardiovascular disease, involving 1,270,000 participants, showed that those who consumed five cups of coffee a day were at no greater risk than those who drank none, according to the New York Times. Dr. Jiali Han, a disease researcher at Indiana University, Indianapolis also said that it’s even possible that coffee’s antioxidant compounds have anti-cancer benefits.
I could go on and on. The science is almost indisputable. Study after study proves that coffee might just be good for you. Which is great for me, because I can continue my Monday morning coffee evangelism with the science to back it up! Whilst I am not advocating drinking more coffee to improve your health, or if you are pregnant (too much of anything is bad for you), the amount you drink now is probably having no adverse effect. In fact, it’s improving your memory, focus, mood and energy levels, according to research.
That’s why good coffee in the office is so important. It’s what keeps the juices flowing for longer, and contributes directly to a productive, collaborative and positive environment. So stop thinking about cutting back on coffee, and start thinking about making the coffee you drink in the office better.
On that note, I’m off to brew myself a coffee. I suggest you do too…for the good of your health.
